ACHIM KAUFMANN
Gueuledeloup
Red Toucan
RT 9319


Mass transportation modern telecommunications and the global economy have given a much different meaning to the term expatriate musician in the 21st century than when the term was first in general use in jazz years ago. Then it usually described an American soloist, underappreciated at home, who found employment and recognition in Europe and who in some cases remained overseas for the remainder of his life. That list includes such major figures as Bud Powell, Sidney Bechet, Stan Getz, Ben Webster and Dexter Gordon.

Times have changed however. Two of the four musicians on this exercise in chamber jazz are Americans, but in terms of playing opportunities you'd be hard pressed to place either on different sides of the Atlantic. Woodwind player Michael Moore has lived in Holland for more than 20 years and is a charter member of the ICP Orchestra. Yet not only do many of that band's gigs take place in North America, but Moore is just as likely to show up in your town playing with the band 13 Ways, completed by Americans Fred Hersch on piano, and percussionist Gerry Hemingway.

Percussionist John Hollenbeck is New York-based, but besides working all over with trumpeter Cuong Vu's trio, among other bands, he's often in Europe and holds down the drum chair in Bob Brookmeyer's Dutch-based New Art Orchestra, which sometimes also includes German keyboardist Achim Kaufmann.

Kaufmann who wrote all the tunes on this CD has a similar cross-Continental history. After first studying music in Cologne, he won a scholarship to the Banff (Alberta) Centre jazz summer program where he was taught by Canadian
trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, American pianist Richie Beirach and British bassist Dave Holland. In the 1990s he spent time in Amsterdam where he frequently played with Moore and he's often worked in a duo with German saxophonist Frank Gratkowski. Bassist/cellist Henning Sieverts, who wasn't on the band's first CD, has not only worked with other major European and American players, but his trio, including American drummer Bill Elgart toured such places as Australia and the U.S,

Each of the four is a textural player and an interpreter of written material as well as an improviser. That's a bonus since the sort of chamber jazz Kaufmann creates here seems to have its closest antecedent in the complex, but light-toned West Cost jazz of the late 1950s. As a matter of fact, there are points where the group seems to suggest an European/American version of the Dave Brubeck Quartet (DBQ). With an undeniably lighter touch than that pianist, Kaufmann takes the Brubeck role, inventive Hollenbeck is Joe Morello, and understated Sieverts is Eugene Wright. Moore, who shares a California background with Brubeck, recalls two other West Coast-born DBQ reed players: wistful alto saxophonist Paul Desmond and serious clarinetist William O. Smith.

The leitmotif in Kaufmann's writing, is also often his affectation: when he comes up with a written line or phrase he's never satisfied to hear it played once, when it can be played twice, thrice or even more often. Theme and variation, variation, variation appears to be his mantra. As well, there's a patina of impressionistic romanticism that seems to characterize most of his tunes.

Despite the band members' quasi-avant-garde credentials, only a few effects ands extended techniques ripple on the compositions' placid surfaces. Even then, that experimentation brings to mind the early 1960s band led by West
Coast Jazz-identified woodwind master Jimmy Giuffre, featuring sardonic Canadian pianist Paul Bley, who at one point had the bassist Sieverts' associate, drummer Elgart, in his trio.

Most of the pieces here are sprightly, with friendly, dance-like exteriors. Meanwhile a quartet characteristic, which was also found in the classic DBQ, is substantial cooperation between the reed player and the pianist, either working in unison or following one another in merry squirrel-like chases. When pressed, Moore can construct sounds that can resemble baby cries or kazoo-bleats, but these attempts at experimentation are usually held back by Kaufmann's more grounded lines. Sieverts too finds occasions to exhibit his arco cello prowess so that it modulates like a string section, yet in the main he confines himself to traditional bass accompaniment.

Hollenbeck, who too has dabbled in new music as well as out-jazz with bands like the ethnic-minimalist Claudia Quartet, tries out a few novelty effects here. For instance, when Moore's breathy mid-range clarinet tones pushes out deep cushions of air, he conflates the sound with barely audible percussion and what appears to be a xylophone. Another time he uses the sizzle produced by lightly tapping the rivets in his cymbals plus some snare rolls to back up the reedist's flutter tonguing. At one point he even creates some Polynesian-style, out-of-sync percussion to deepen the watery, coastal sunset aural images suggested by Moore's alto.

While all this is going on, Kaufmann, who has won German piano competitions plays pretty and pretty straight. He introduces right-handed glisses at points, sticks close to his many bouncing melodies and generally keeps his
presentation in a swinging West Coast mold. There was a point at height of his quartet's popularity that Brubeck was described as the least-interesting member of his band. One wouldn't say that about Kaufmann, but it seems as if
both his improvising and composition could due with a few more challenges.

Gueuledeloup is a pleasant enough disc that will likely appeal to many folks who shy away from dark artistic statements. Perhaps though, if the pianist could procure some sort of hardening compound that could give his music the same vigor that his soloists can deliver, he'll eventually create a major sound edifice.


-- Ken Waxman


Track Listing: 1. Beg; 2. Proliferation (B); 3. Mutatitional; 4. Telegraph; 5. Turnstiles; 6. Trillium; 7. Akadie; 8. Kurns; 9. Gueuledeloup (wolfsfresse)

Personnel: Michael Moore, alto saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet; Achim Kaufmann, piano; Henning Sieverts, bass, cello; John Hollenbeck, drums, percussion